Lance was out in open, open space. Alone. With a tiny rifle to protect himself. And two giant space ships fighting around him.

Keith scolded himself for letting him leave.

The knife was just a sentimental trinket, it wasn't worth all this bother. He should have pressed its unimportance, he shouldn't have let Lance go outside.

He was struggling to convince himself that he didn't care about the knife. But the fact that Lance was now in danger twisted his gut with guilt.

The blast from the ship had sent him careening backwards, losing sight of Lance in the process. Dread settled in his stomach, afraid that Lance was going to get caught in the crossfire.

"Keith? Are you okay?" Lance's voice came through.

"Fine. What about you?"

"Not going to lie, I am suddenly feeling very, very small. Fancy coming and picking me up before I get blasted to pieces?"

"Sure." Keith spun round, flying back the way he had came. The ship that had hit him was nowhere to be seen. His scanners showed nothing near him. "Any chance you saw what hit me?" He asked Lance.

"The laser came out of thin air. My best guess is Lotor."

Great. Just what Keith needed: a fight with the ship that had managed to take down the battle cruiser with a single shot. Keith adjusted his controls, locking onto Lance's location. He was a small blue dot in the expanse before him, his jet pack turned up as high as it would go. "Just stay where you are Lance, I'm coming to you."

"No way, compadre! I'm not floating around waiting to get shot out of the sky."

"Lance-" Keith was ready to argue his point, that it was easier to pick up an object that wasn't moving, but he was cut off.

"Look out!" Lance's warning came too late however as Keith felt Red get blasted once again. He stabilized the lion quicker this time, his battle instincts kicking in. Managing to see where the beam of energy had come from, he fired his own laser and successfully connected with the cloaked ship.

The success was short lived however, as Keith once again lost track of the ship. "Where is he?" Keith shouted, frustrated.

"I can't see a thing." Keith's display showed that Lance had taken his advice and had stopped moving.

"Yeah, no kidding," Keith muttered.

"Behind you!" The warning was better timed this time around, and Keith had the chance to move out of the way, barely avoiding another hit.

"Thanks!"

"Don't thank me yet, he's gone again."

Keith slapped the controls in frustration. "He's toying with us! How am I supposed to find him?"

"Shame we can't use Blue's sonic cannon…"

"Thank you for the helpful tip, Lance."

"Below you Keith!" As Keith moved out the way he saw the tell-tale glow of a charging cannon before the blast fired. So that was how Lance was spotting him.

Sick of this game, Keith powered towards Lance: at the moment his vulnerability was a distraction Keith couldn't afford. First get him back on board, then the two of them could go after Lotor.

Keith urged Red to put everything he had into his engines. He just had to be quick enough to grab Lance before Lotor tried to hit him again.

Lance's floating form appeared on his screen, drawing closer. Keith opened Red's jaw, ready to scoop him out of space the way Lance had done for him. After this they would surely be even.

He had managed to get close enough to Lance that he could see his face fall, grow pale.

"K-Keith…"

Suddenly there was an alarm blaring, all his controls turning a warning red.

An enemy ship, directly behind him.

Like with Pidge, Lotor must have been limited in how long he could keep his ship cloaked. It had materialised right behind him, canon ready to fire. Keith was faced with a choice: take the hit, or move and leave Lance open to the shot.

Although, considering the outcomes, it didn't seem to be much of a choice.

He grit his teeth, glad for the moment to prepare before the cannon fired. He fought to keep Red still, that purple beam attempting to make him lose control again. Concern for Lance was mounting: in his mind's eye Keith couldn't avoid the image of what could happen if he lost control. Why couldn't Lance have just stayed on the lion?!

Keith had Red shoot a laser in the hopes of stilling the onslaught. The blue stream missed it's intended target, but must have passed close enough to unnerve Lotor. The Galra's ship quickly turned tail and flew off.

Lance's sigh of relief came through the intercom. "Thank quiznak for that. Come get me and we can go back to the castle."

But Keith was transfixed, finding himself speeding after the ship: Lotor was right there. Keith could catch him.

"Keith? Buddy?"

"Wait there," Keith ordered, the chance to finally one up Lotor too good to resist. He pushed Red forwards, using all the speed he could muster, the laser canon already charging. "This won't take long."

"You can't just leave me here!" Lance shouted.

"I'm not leaving you," Keith assured. "I will be right back."

"I can't believe this! I came this far to save your sorry butt and you just abandon me."

"I'm not abandoning you! Just…give me a minute." He launched the canon, narrowly missing Lotor's ship. The distance between them was closing quickly.

He fired again, and successfully managed to hit the ship. He fired another quick blast, pleased to see the ship turn back towards him. At least he was able to give as good as he got.

Lotor fired at him, taking evasive manoeuvres to avoid another hit. With plenty of distance between him and Lance he was unafraid to fire with Red's full power. The two ships were locked in a dance, ducking and weaving out the other's way while constantly firing beams of blue and purple light.

"You hot-temptered, irresponsible, ungrateful piece of-" Lance's angry voice was buzzing in his ears, never pausing, as though the boy didn't need to breath when he was angry. Keith went to mute him for the time being when he found the intercom control flashing. One click and Shiro's tense face appeared.

"LANCE! Thank god, what hap- Keith?!" The shock on Shiro's face was apparent, eyebrows almost reaching his hair line. "What are you…where's Lance?"

"I'm currently engaged in a shoot out with Lotor," Keith explained, struggling to move out of the way just before Lotor fired. "Lance is fine."

"I most certainly am not!" Lance's panicked voice came through. "He left me behind in space Shiro!"

"What?! What are you two doing?"

A purple laser clipped Red's side and Keith juttered violently. "Trying to take down Lotor."

"Lotor? But he took down Haggar's ship?"

"So we saw. Before he attacked us," Keith said through gritted teeth. The ship Lotor had built was fast, almost as fast as Red. Another blue laser missed its target, and as Keith charged up another shot the ship winked out of existence right before his eyes. The cloaking device must be back up and running. Keith paused, waiting for the tell-tale purple of the charging cannon. He wouldn't let Lotor get the better of him again.

"But he wants to arrange a meeting? He wouldn't put that in jeopardy."

"He would, if there was something he wanted more," Allura's knowing voice said, her face appearing alongside Shiro's

"The entire Galra empire is out to get him, what more could he want than safety within an alliance with us?" Hunk and Pidge's faces joined the other paladins on the screen.

"I don't know." Allura sounded distressed. "This whole time he's been two steps ahead of us: we have no idea what his motives are, or his intentions. We need this meeting, we need to find out what he wants."

"Looks like he's passing on the opportunity," Shiro said. "Keith, if you get a chance to stop him take it. I don't trust leaving him with the amount of power that ship of his wields."

"I'm trying," The frustration was clear in Keith's voice, "But I've lost visual on him again! He's got some kind of cloaking device: he just keeps hiding and firing when I least expect it."

"Hang on a tick," said Pidge. "I'll try and access the red lion's sensors and see if I can boost them remotely. It won't be by much, but it could be enough to expose Lotor."

Keith was gripping the controls fiercely, trying to focus on his surroundings. Lotor truly was playing with him: why hadn't he fired by now?

"How long Pidge? My sensors still haven't picked up on anything." Impatience was creeping into Keith's voice – all this waiting around was making him edgy.

"That should be it now," Pidge announced.

The sensors remained unchanged.

"It didn't work."

"Or he's gone," Pidge said. "Maybe you scared him off?"

Keith sighed, aggravated that this had all been for nothing. "So what was the point in picking a fight only to run off?"

"We can ask him when he contacts us about this meeting. He obviously didn't achieve what he wanted to here, we should hear from him soon enough." Shiro rubbed his jaw as he thought. "Everyone get back to the Castle of Lions to debrief and discuss this further." Shiro smiled slightly at the thought, "It'll be nice to have you back, Keith."

Keith returned the smile, looking forward to reuniting with Shiro.

"And Keith?"

"Yeah?"

"Please remember to collect Lance before you head back." The paladins faces disappeared from his monitor and Keith's smile grew. Even though he regarded himself as a loner, the prospect of seeing the full team again warmed his heart. It had been a lonely few months, he could do with some family time.

He turned Red around, returning to the coordinates he had left Lance at. But instead of an angry Cuban boy yelling at him, Keith was met with empty space.

Again Lance didn't listen: Keith looked around, trying to work out where the blue paladin had flown off to.

"Lance?"

No reply.

"Lance, this isn't funny," Keith said, a little louder. The thought of being with the team again had excited him, he didn't have time to waste on Lance throwing a tantrum. "I'm sorry, okay? I stand by that I didn't abandon you, but I'm sorry you felt abandoned."

Still no reply. Keith fiddled with Red's sensors, not sure if Pidge's boost was still in effect. Maybe her interference had messed with the sensors and now they couldn't lock onto Lance's location?

It was incredibly immature that Lance wasn't responding to him, especially after he had apologised.

Keith shut his eyes: he and Red had a bond, Lance and Red had a bond. It made sense that he should be able to use Red's connection to find Lance, if he could tap into it. Keith felt he and Lance had a bond of their own, even if Lance wouldn't admit it: he felt confident that this would work.

He felt a distant flicker which he initially ignored, assuming it must be interference from the other paladins. Lance couldn't have flown that far.

"Come on, Lancey Lance," Keith said with a smirk, hoping the usage of Lance's self-appointed pet name would annoy him enough to respond.

Still nothing. Keith was beginning to grow uneasy.

He focused on that initial flicker of a presence, letting his mind follow the thread between him and it. It wasn't as far away as he had thought: it definitely couldn't be from the other paladins.

But it was too far for Lance to have managed to go in such a short amount of time. Keith was struggling to get a decent read on it: whatever it was, it was moving fast.

"Lance? Come on, this isn't funny." Keith's voice was beginning to sound hollow next to the empty static of the intercom. "Stop messing around."

But no reply came.

And, it seemed, no reply would come.

As panic began to build in his chest, he managed to focus in on the departing presence for just a moment.

The aura enveloped him, surrounding him with the feeling of laughter, of companionship. Of cool, calming water, and trust, and frustration. The sound of crashing waves met his ears, and he could smell the barest hint of spicy, Cuban cooking.

He was transported momentarily to the castle's kitchen, of a forgotten book in his hand as he watched Lance slave over the stove, muttering Spanish curses at the food. Keith never could complain, whatever food Lance presented was always delicious, yet Lance would always assure him it was garbage compared to that of his mother's.

It was in moments such as these that Keith felt like a normal teenager: not a paladin of Voltron, or some screw up that had flunked out of the garrison. Just some guy hanging out with his friend, with good food and decent enough company. Where he could relax, and forget about the responsibilities that lay beyond the kitchen.

As that imagined smell of cooking faded, Keith's heart dropped. There was no doubt that the departing presence belonged to Lance.

"Quiznak!" Keith shouted. He stood and paced, yelling. Dread curled in his gut as his fragile connection with the aura was severed. "Damn it!" He screamed. He said, he promised, that he wouldn't let Lotor get the best of him again. He said he didn't abandon Lance. He said he would be right back.

But Lance was gone, disappearing somewhere amongst the stars. Keith sat back down, attempting to reestablish the connection between them, but the thread was gone. Maybe Keith had let them get too far away before realising his mistake.

This was all his fault. His pride had resulted in Lance being taken.

Was Lance what Lotor had been after this whole time, why he had toyed with Keith so? Keith recalled how he had chased Lotor through space, before Lotor mysteriously disappeared.

Had Lotor been leading them away from Lance? To keep him out of the crossfire, or make him easier to capture?

Whatever the disgraced prince's plans, it seemed Lance was more important to him than establishing a protective alliance with the rebels.